Auguste Schlüter (27 June 1849 – Autumn 1917) was a German Empire born domestic servant to the British Gladstone family, and a biographer. Her posthumously published memoirs were titled A Lady's Maid in Downing Street.
Auguste Schlüter | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 June 1849 Kingdom of Hanover |
| Died | Autumn 1917 Hanover |
| Nationality | German Empire |
Early life
editAuguste Schlüter was born in the Kingdom of Hanover, on 27 June 1849. She had a sister who later lived in New York.
Career
editHer life changed when she was seventeen when she was employed in England by the politician and Prime Minister William and Catherine Gladstone. Schlüter did not speak much English but she decided to keep a diary as she worked as a maid looking after two of her employers' daughters, Mary and Helen Gladstone.[1]
When Mary Gladstone married Henry Drew in 1886, Catherine Gladstone appointed Schlüter as her personal maid. In November 1890 Schlüter returned to Hanover to look after her ailing mother. She maintained contact with the Gladstone family, writing and making some visits. She corresponded with them throughout the First World War, although her final letter of 20 March 1917, written to Mary Drew, did not reach her until after the end of the war.[1]
Diaries
editHer diary, written in an exercise book, was discovered after she left Britain and published posthumously in 1922 as A Lady's Maid in Downing Street.[2] The book gives an interesting view of upper class life although critics observed that Schlüter was living at the centre of government but only small details of world events made it into her book.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Reynolds, K. D. (2004). "Schlüter, Auguste (1849–1917), domestic servant". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/42021. Retrieved 29 May 2024. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Auguste Schlüter (1884). A Lady's Maid in Downing Street. T. F. Unwin.